#i am posting this as proof of life

[seijorhi]

Kuroo Tetsurou x female reader

tw: kinda infidelity, implied murder, yandere vibes

"I'm married."

Kuroo flashes the ring as he says it, a not-all-that-apologetic smile on his face. Happily, he doesn't add. He doesn't often need to – most of the women who approach him take the hint and move on, no harm no foul. He can't really blame them for their interest, leaning ever so casually against the bar, his suit expensive, hair an artful mess, Kuroo knows he cuts a handsome figure.

But he has no interest in a quick fuck, nor in anything else the woman before him can offer.

Yet far from being deterred, her red lips curl into a playful smirk. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her," she purrs, and lays a perfectly manicured hand over his arm. "Buy me a drink?"

Kuroo straightens then, lets his eyes roam over her body. Slowly, lazily, drinking down every inch of her. And she is a pretty thing, her form fitting dress leaving little to the imagination. She knows it, too, eyes sparkling as she bats long, dark eyelashes at him.

Another firmer dismissal forms on the tip of his tongue, and yet something holds him back. There's a bad taste in his mouth that's lingered since the morning, the sting of your bitter, acidic words having struck deeper than perhaps you intended.

Maybe he was too hasty with his earlier dismissal; she might just serve a purpose after all.

Kuroo chuckles, swallows the last mouthful of his drink and sets the empty glass down on the counter. Glances at the bartender, "Another, and one of whatever the lady would like."

There's a glint like victory in her face as she says, "Champagne, and make it a bottle."

She makes herself comfortable in his lap, flirting with practiced charm, confident and sultry. Her red tipped fingernails toying with his hair, lightly scratching down the back of his neck as she laughs at his jokes. She'd introduced herself earlier in the night, but Kuroo's already forgotten her name by the time he's hailing down a cab, the two of them bundling inside.

If he were being totally honest, he'd forgotten it the second she'd said it. Names, after all, weren't important here.

"Your wife?" she questions when Kuroo gives the driver his address. Cautious, rather than concerned. He imagines that running into the wife of the man you're trying to fuck probably sucks the fun out of the indiscretion.

He throws her an easy wink, pulling her back onto his lap. "Don't worry about it."

She shrugs, unbothered.

Her lips leave painted smudges over his throat, possessive in a way. Like she's staking her claim over her perceived conquest. "She won't hold a candle to me, baby," she promises, her hand teasingly trailing over the crotch of his pants.

His eyes darken, blood thrumming as he growls, "Don't make promises you can't keep."

She just giggles, tugging him into another heated kiss.

And she barely manages to extricate herself from his side as the two of them make their way into the building, up the elevator.

His apartment's quiet when they stumble inside. She kicks her heels off and attacks his tie, doesn't hear the mechanical clicks of the three locks automatically sliding into place.

Down the hallway, his jacket tossed aside, shirt unbuttoned. And with every step, the feeling of anticipation grows. She's too wrapped up in the zipper of her dress to notice the sounds of life stirring on the other side of his bedroom door, but they're etched into Kuroo. Everything about you is, inextricably.

He wouldn't have it any other way.

He's been waiting for this moment all day, itching and impatient, the sight of you sprawled out atop his bed, waiting for him in the pyjamas he bought you a balm to the day's stresses. You're such a good girl. Even when you're mad at him.

And yet the moment the door swings open, the two of them bursting inside, you startle and flinch– the chain around your ankle clinking noisily at the sudden, jerking movement.

"Tetsu? What– what's going on?" you breathe, eyes warily darting between him and the half dressed woman at his side.

"What the hell?!"

Kuroo smiles – that soft, indulgent expression he saves just for you – seizing her by the arm the second she tries to step back, tightening his grip until she's whimpering, begging.

"Hey, sweetheart. Did you miss me?"

This morning you'd gotten all worked up over some nonsense, silly notions about him 'growing bored' and 'tossing you aside', as if you weren't his soulmate. His one true north.

And he'd laughed and told you how ridiculous you were being – right up to the point where you implied he'd find somebody to replace you.

You're his wife, he won't abide you thinking like that. Not for a fucking second.

You said things you didn't mean, lashing out because you were scared, he knows that. Tried not to take it to heart. You're not afraid that he'll go out seeking someone else, you're afraid that greedy fucking whores are going to sink their claws into him and try to pull him away from you.

They'd sooner have luck drawing blood from stone, but Kuroo's always been one to go above and beyond, especially where you're concerned.

And if it helps put your mind at ease, he's more than happy to prove just how deep his loyalty to you – his absolute devotion – runs. As many times as it takes.

That's love.

With a harsh shove, Kuroo sends the woman sprawling to the floor.

He laughs, "Relax, it's not what you think."

[demigods-posts]

the percabeth + grover in tartarus headcanon during the doors of death scene will forever haunt me. percy reverting to his twelve-year-old self. a loyal heart forced to decide between the two people he loves most. annabeth reverting to her seven-year-old self. kicking and screaming to be put down as percy carries her to safety. grover remaining as the adult in the situation. the protector shielding the kids from harm. and the prophecy line 'an oath to keep with a final breath' echoes in the depth of each of their minds. those three will never see each other again. those three will never be the same.

[aterfish]

Being ace is an opposite of fuck around and find out:

Fuck nobody and never know for sure

[roomwithanopenfire]

Happy Saturday! I'm posting early for two reasons. 1) I'm going on a trip today and won't have a ton of time tomorrow; 2) Today's my birthday! And I'm one of those people when it comes to my birthday and I want the attention 🙃

I am currently on a long road trip with two of my best friends so everyone cross their fingers that it isn't horrendously cloudy and we can actually see the total solar eclipse on Monday 🤞

I haven't done really much writing at all this week because I've been so busy (you can tell that there's only a month left of the semester with the sheer amount of projects I have to do in all of my classes). But I've been working away at editing Proof of Life, which in case you missed it has two chapters now with a third one coming on Monday (if only I could schedule AO3 posts like tumblr posts, my life would be so much easier). Anyway, snippet from the incoming Chapter Three. Fiona finally makes an appearance.

“Don’t mind the mess,” Fiona said, swatting me and my judgemental expression. “I haven't really had much time for unpacking.”

“I can see that.”

“Oi.” Fiona pointed her finger at me—mock-stern. “Don’t get sassy like that with me, Basil. I’ve been very busy.”

“Oh, yeah? Doing what?” 

Fiona clicked her tongue. “Important stuff. Don’t worry your pretty head.” I snorted. Important stuff. Fiona didn’t do anything important.

Don't let this snippet fool you though, this chapter will be mostly sad

Tags and Hellos: @you-remind-me-of-the-babe @facewithoutheart @run-for-chamo-miles @raenestee @artsyunderstudy @onepintobean @prettygoododds @noblecorgi @hushed-chorus @angelsfalling16 @thewholelemon @monbons @shrekgogurt @brendughh @a-maisie-ng @hertragedyconnoisseur @beastmonstertitan @valeffelees

[smallestflowtree]

I haven't forgotten about the Pavel girls AU don't worry, I just started writing the fic and I had some great ideas that I'm really happy with but it's got a LOT more involved and because I haven't written a multi-chap in a few years and I want to keep the tone/theme etc consistent I am basically writing the whole thing at once. It's coming on nicely but also taking a while, not helped by the fact that I keep stopping to draw fan art for it

[sassyandclassy94]

Sneak Peek at “He’s Progressed and She’s Impressed” Part Two

Their date was a simple location: the piano hall on the UW campus. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but it was warm and dry, and didn’t cost money. It was also a plus that no one seemed to care that he was sneaking a non-college girl onto the campus. Perhaps people just assumed? Who knows. Either way, Don was more than happy to get away with it.

They set up their little picnic stuff in a corner, laying everything out on the blanket before beginning to eat. Don was quiet during then; trying to calm his nerves and force food down his throat while he listened to Kate and Shorty (Shorty acted as their chaperone this night because both Joe and Bobby had prior engagements) chat back and forth. In a few minutes Shorty stuffed his last bite of food into his mouth and took a final swig of his soda before standing up from the blanket.

“If you two’ll excuse me, I need to visit the bathroom; I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he said after starting to walk off. He stopped and turned back to face Kate and Don. “Play something for her, Hume.” He gestured to the piano and, before turning and heading off in the other direction again, he added, “Behave!”

Kate grinned while Don shook his head slowly. “The fact that he is warning us to behave is downright ironic.”

[withbluegills]

Ruskin Spear // Franz Kafka // Claude Monet // Catherynne M. Valente // Edvard Munch // Richard Siken // Mary Altha Nims // Vladimir Nabokov // Suzanne Siegel

[queenlucythevaliant]

Some off-the-cuff thoughts on overspiritualizing patterns in science

I remember watching a talk in middle school youth group about laminin, the "molecule that holds your whole body together" which was supposedly shaped like a cross. The suggestion, basically, was that the cross's image was integral to our molecular makeup and that this was part of God's design in a very Significant way. I was a burgeoning STEM girl, so I taped a diagram of a laminin up next to my bed for a while.

(As I would later find out, the whole laminin thing had/has some reach among Christians. There are T-shirts and everything)

Fast forever to spring of my freshman year as a microbiology student. I take my first course in cell bio, and I learn that laminins are actually one of many families of ECM glycoproteins. They aren't really any more significant in "holding the body together" than collagens, elastins, or fibronectins. They're very important, yes, but ultimately just one type of adhesive protein among many. And! They also do a bunch of other stuff that's way cooler than just. Adhesive.

While some laminins do bear resemblance to a cross when diagramed, it's really only because they have three subchains. Some are t-shaped, but others are y-shaped, and those don't look anything like a cross. Also, when they're in situ rather than in a nice, neat diagram, they tend to be all floppy and then they look even less cross-like.

Source

And when I learned about this I was oddly relieved. It felt like I was right about something that I couldn't even put into words, and that somehow the field of what I could call glorious had grown wider.

Christians are called to see and marvel at the presence of God in creation. I love doing that! I see God left and right through my scientific studies. Yet I also know that the human brain is pattern-seeking and that we are prone to pareidolia. I honestly don't know that there's a substantive difference between seeing the cross in some laminins and seeing Jesus on a piece of toast. It's all just seeing patterns that arise from something else (in the case of laminins, being able to bind three different molecules at once) and attributing spiritual significance. God is sovereign and maybe in the grand scope of his vision for creation it means something, but in terms of seeing God's hand in science I just find it so... small?

You could spin so many four-chain or four-domain proteins or goodness knows how many other molecules into images of the cross if you pick the right diagram. You could take every pattern of three in nature (and there are many!) as an image of the Trinity. If you really, really wanted to, you could take every six in organic chemistry as a sign of the beast, which would be hilarious in its misguidedness. It just becomes so literalistic and dull so very fast.

Look! Wouldn't you rather talk about the fact that laminins begin to appear along the edge of a developing lung at just ten weeks of human embryonic development, suggesting that they play a role in alveolar morphogenesis? That they're present in the neural stem-cell niche, which makes them an attractive candidate for helping to treat degenerative neurological conditions? I want to go back to whoever gave that talk that I watched in youth group and shake him and say, "God did that, and you're still hung up on the fact that laminins have three subchains?"

[bellamyblakru]

bro the way merlin’s go-to way to show the people he loves how magic can be beautiful is with fire manipulation,,, im unwell.

[junibugs]

hi guys i'm absolutely so embarrassed and ashamed to be asking this, but if you could send me anything, any amount of money to help pay for summer classes i have to take and payments i have to make for for physical health, i will be so astronomically grateful. i've had a long journey with different health problems and doctors appointments, and course payments (which some of you know the history of) and my spendings are running very very low where it's very hard to sustain myself, my health, and my education.

struggles economically and financially are so very real and sometimes they're so hard to seek help for because of the embarrassment that comes with it. i would never ask for anything if i didn't need it for my health or education. i would never resort to this if i didn't think it was one of the only options i had left.

your most valuable donation to me is support and kind words, but of course if you could give anything i would be beyond grateful.

my venmo is @marawrs, and if any other method works better for you please let me know. i am so grateful for all of you and all the support you have shown me over the years. i will forever be thankful for all of you.

[whiskeyswifty]

.

[milfygerard]

Travis has a male "best, best friend" named Ross that's lived with him since he broke up with his ex-gf Kayla a couple years ago and who still currently lives with him to this very day and goes everywhere with him, including to every single one of Taylor's concert that he's went to, and there's pictures of them holding hands with each other as they leave the stadium together after Taylor's concert in Sydney was over combined with Ross posting a meme to his Instagram when Travis took him to that Sydney concert about a yellow M&M and a blue M&M being a gay couple when he had worn a yellow t-shirt to Taylor's concert and Travis had worn a blue t-shirt.

Jeeze, leave the damn man be, when the break-up article that Taylor had Tree write for this silly "Traylor" PR fodder after she sent her Dad and lawyers on several documented trip to meet up with a bunch of KC Chiefs executives all the way back betwen January and March 2023 drops in the next couple of days, let the man go be a homoerotic dude-bro who kisses his male bestie that's lives with him for years on the mouth goodnight instead of trying to insist that his and Taylor's relationship was ever more than a simple, impersonal mutually beneficial business relationship that Travis used to score points with his gay-themed friendship braclet making Swiftie boyfriend Ross by getting him into a bunch of Taylor's concerts for free lmao

I so so brought this upon myself

[acesammy]

Ok but like it’s a terrible life is not evidence of… literally anything. If the angels wanted an actual test of whether or not sam and Dean could like a normal life, they sure as FUCK wouldn’t leave Sam with memory dreams and they wouldn’t drop them in a haunted building

[miniscule-meow]

Charlie and Felix: Bad Decisions

The long awaited follow-up to Bad Times

Writing Masterpost is Here

Extra long chapter (about 4.5k) I thought about splitting it into two but decided to go ahead and post the whole thing because I felt bad about how long it took me to write this

Warnings: Blood Mention, Alcohol, Some Language

~*~*~*~

For the first time since the beginning of the semester, they don’t sit next to each other in class. The room isn’t a huge lecture hall, but there are still plenty of open seats. Charlie sits off to the side, a little closer to the front than her normal spot next to Felix. She doesn’t turn around to check if he’s there, as far as she knows, he might have skipped the class today. The minutes drag along, the lecture seems extra boring without her friend sitting next to her. She knows that they probably just need to talk it out, and everything could be fine again. But honestly, she doesn’t really feel like doing that right now. He took all of her trust and threw it right back in her face. She’s allowed to be upset about that. Not that he even cares. If he didn’t want to be friends with her anymore, he could have just said that. But whatever, no time to think about dumb boys, she tries to focus on the boring lecture instead.

It goes on like this all week, they just mutually pretend that the other one doesn’t exist. Today, once class is over Charlie takes her sweet time packing up her stuff at the end of class. Usually, she would go get lunch with Felix after this class, but that’s obviously not going to happen right now.

“Hey Charlotte!” She turns and finds a girl standing next to her. They have… never really spoken, it takes her a moment to place a name with the face before her. She thinks it’s Madison. She was in her group at the first day orientation for transfer students, but aside from that they haven’t really spoken much. “Not to be, like, nosey or anything, but did you and Felix break up?”

“Um. We weren’t dating.” Charlie says, uncomfortably shifting her backpack onto her shoulders.

“What? Totally thought you were. Huh. But, so like, you’re fighting then, right? You haven’t sat next to each other all week”

“Why do you care?” Charlie raises an eyebrow.

“You totally are. ‘OMG’ Did he go total werewolf on you?” Charlie is briefly taken aback by her saying ‘oh em gee’ out loud in real life, it takes everything in her to not make a face at that. “It was a full moon recently you know and I-”

“No. no, no,” Charlie cuts her off, definitely making faces now, “I’m not going to listen to your stupid conspiracy theories. He’s not a werewolf, okay? He’s just a dumb boy. That’s it. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry. I mean, you two have been inseparable like… the whole year and now...” She shrugs. “Nikki totally thought you were being mind controlled to hang out with him.”

“Yeah. Okay, I’m walking away now.” Charlie turns to leave.

“I told her that was stupid!” Madison calls after her.

“Okay, bye.” Charlie waves as she walks off, thankful to escape that conversation before she was asked if Felix has scales or something. Great. Apparently, some people still have time to be curious about her stupid personal life drama. She doesn’t get why everyone is so curious about Felix. He tries to keep to himself, but everyone seems to want to insert themselves in his business. There is that picture of him floating around, but it’s super blurry and you can’t really tell that it's him, or that he’s gigantic. But ever since then everyone just seems to have their own version of who -or what- Felix really is. She guesses it makes sense that people would try to get information out of her, because Madison was right, her and Felix had been inseparable until recently.

“Charlotte, wait wait wait!” Madison runs after her. “I’m really sorry about your breakup and stuff. If you want, next weekend there’s going to be a huge party at Troy’s place. You should totally come. Meet some new people and stuff.” She hands Charlie a scrap of paper with an address on it. Then Madison stands there just long enough to make Charlie feel awkward, “Okay bye.” And with that, she flits off. Charlie looks at the note in her hands.

She’s never been invited to a party before. But thinking logically, there’s no way that would be any fun. Just a bunch of people shouting at her over music, asking her about Felix the whole time, drinking cheap beer, not studying for the finals that are right around the corner. She balls up the note and shoves it into her pocket.

Nothing changes the next week. Felix still hasn’t reached out to her, and she has stubbornly refused to reach out to him first. People mostly leave her alone, everything is relatively normal, if this is what normal has become. No friends, no fun, super normal. By the time the next weekend approaches, she finds herself seriously considering the party thing. She finds the crumpled note and smooths it out on her desk.

The night of the party rolls around, and she actually finds herself driving to the address, and parking a block down from the house. There are a LOT of cars on this street. Once she steps out of her truck she can already hear the dull thump of music and sound emanating from the house. She takes a deep breath before heading inside, determined to make some friends. She’s wearing her hair down, and she took care to pick an outfit that was both cute and comfortable. It’s a pair of overall shorts with a light long sleeve shirt underneath. That, paired with her black combat boots and some tall socks pushed down around the top of the boots. She wore her cutest bralette underneath for herself to help boost her confidence. She felt so cute she even took a selfie before she left. Here’s to new beginnings. It’s a little too cold outside for her outfit, so she grabbed a jacket before she left, but once she entered the house, she quickly ditched her jacket and pushed her sleeves up to her elbows.

It's loud and crowded. The people are packed into every room. Music is playing everywhere, and people are holding drinks, shouting over the music. She looks around. Some people glance her way, but she’s mostly ignored. She finds her way to the drinks.

“What is this?” She asks someone near a big container of a red liquid.

“Jungle Juice.” They shout back.

“What’s in it?”

“I don’t know. Everything?” They laugh and wander off. She’s sure there was something warning her about stuff like this in orientation. She pulls a mug out of an open cabinet and pours herself a glassful. It’s weird that they don’t have plastic cups? She always saw the stereotype of the red solo cups, but I guess they really like to play by their own rules here. Who is going to do all the dishes? What if something breaks? She shakes her head, this is why she doesn't get invited to parties. She just tries the drink already. Bleh. It’s strong to say the least, but... it’s relatively drinkable.

Several cups of jungle juice later she has flitted through several groups. Introductions, small talk, wander, repeat. There hasn’t been anyone she’s immediately clicked with like she had hoped. She joined a group playing a drinking game for a bit, which was fun, and got more fun the more drunk she became. Eventually, she finds herself sitting on the couch in the living room, the room twisting around her. Everything is just sounds and shapes. It's awesome, it's horrifying. Part of her thinks she’s had too much, and part of her is trying to reason why she should have just one more.

She pulls out her phone, it’s late. No notifications. No that's not true, she got a spam email for hot singles in the area, great. No real notifications at least, that is to say, nothing from Felix. She’s not surprised but she’s bummed. She can’t help but wonder what he's is doing right now. He would hate this party, she’s not sure if she hates this party or not. She should call him. She should absolutely not call him. Her phone is already ringing.

“Hello?” His voice answers. Oh my gosh he actually answered. She didn’t think he would answer. Why did she call him right now?

“...Hey.” She is immediately conscious of how she sounds so drunk. He must think she is so drunk. She is so drunk.

As she’s thinking that things couldn’t get any worse, fates twisted smile shines on her. Todd, resident bully, guy she’s pretty sure was in the fight with Felix the first day he actually talked to her Todd takes her phone, holding it away from her.

“Don’t drunk call boys that aren’t here sweetheart, pay attention to the ones that showed up.” He looks at the phone, laughing “Felix.” He reads quietly, looking at her once more, recognition sparking in his eyes. She stands, protesting and goes to grab for the phone. This would be easier if the room didn’t warble as she stood. To make matters more complicated Todd’s buddy, Drew comes from out of nowhere and slings an arm around her, holding her back. “Oh. Well, this is interesting.” He exchanges a glance with Drew. “You wouldn’t mind If I invited your boyfriend to the party, would you?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” is all she can think to say. He just laughs and holds the phone up to his ear. “He probably already hung up he-”

“Hey Lizard boy." What a stupid nickname, he isn't even a lizard or a werewolf or anything like that. "You still there? Yeah. No, no this is your buddy, Todd. Remember me?” Her stomach drops, he didn't hang up. Maybe he did but Todd is just bluffing. There’s a pause. She tries to interject, but Todd just holds out a finger her direction, and turns away. “What? Aw that’s cute she’s got a nickname. No, Charlie can’t come to the phone right now.” He speaks mockingly and shares a sly look with Drew. Him saying her nickname makes her feel wrong. “She’s a little preoccupied with my pal Drew. Hey, you two, keep it PG over there.” He winks at her; her cheeks burn and Drew just laughs.

“Hang up! That’s not funny!” She tries to get away from Drew to snag her phone back, but she has no luck.  

“Anyway, we’re at Troy’s place. I believe you and I have some unfinished business, if you want to come pick up your girl. Two birds, one stone, you know?”

“I’m not anybody’s ‘girl’ can you grow up?” She thinks that this would have been a cooler thing to say if she hadn’t slurred through half of her words.

“Yeah, yeah, that was her. I don’t know how she’s getting home, man. If you don’t pick her up, she could always stay with me. Plenty of room for two in my bed.” Him and Drew share another crude laugh at her embarrassment.

“No. No. Felix don’t come here. I’ll just uber or sober up soon I-” She’s certain that most of this is coherent. “He wouldn’t come pick me up guys, we’re not… He doesn’t even-” She’s being solidly ignored.

“What’s that? 20 minutes. Yeah. See you soon.” He tosses her phone back to her. She fumbles with it and ends up having to pick it up off the floor. Thankfully the screen is still intact, unlike her social life, and her sense of pride.

Todd and Drew finally get out of her space, but they stay in the living room, it has the best view of the door. The groups around the immediate area sneak glances they think she can’t see, and they’re all huddling talking and giggling. She sits back down on the couch and waits.

The door opens several times as people come and go, she holds her breath each time. Eventually, Felix steps in. She looks at him, wide eyed. He actually came. Why did he actually come here? He scans the party before his eyes lock on her. He looks pissed, and it makes her heart freeze. He stalks across the room with such intensity, shouldering through everyone in his way with ease. He stops in front of her, saying nothing but holding a hand out to her. He's inviting her to take his hand, but his irritated expression makes her faulter, and freeze in place.

“Hey lizard boy, looks like you made it after all.” Todd pipes up. The room is absolutely buzzing with electric energy.

“Come on. Let’s go.” Felix says down to her, breaking her from her frozen state. She realizes she doesn't want to piss him off any more than he already is. So she takes his hand. He helps her up, completely ignoring Todd.

“What? Leaving so soon? Stay awhile. Have some fun. I believe you and I need to finish up an old conversation we were having anyway.” Someone slings an arm around her shoulders, pulling her away from Felix. It’s probably Drew, Todd’s sidekick.

What happens next all moves so fast. One moment Felix and Todd are having a tense conversation, the kind you just know will end in a fight. The next moment, she’s tossed backwards. She stumbles back, catching herself on an end table and toppling the whole thing over. She manages to crash down with the table, a decorative lamp and several cups with varying amounts of liquids all smashing down on top of her. Shit. Her cute outfit is soaked in alcohol and whatever else it was mixed with. That’ll probably stain. She pushes herself up onto her hands and knees. This would all be so much easier if the room wasn’t spinning. She looks down at her stained outfit and briefly registers the cuts on her arms. Why did they think that using actual glass would be better than red solo cups?? Now they have to do a bunch of dishes AND they have to clean up a bunch of glass. Clearly this was not well thought out on their end.

By now, the music has stopped, and a circle has formed around the boys. There is a lot of shouting, everyone has their phone out. She pushes her way through the crowd to find Felix on top of Todd, just absolutely wailing on him. He’s landing blow after blow, before Drew comes up from behind him, his nose already bleeding, and he rips him back. The two of them struggle on the ground while Todd writhes in agony, trying to get back up.

“Felix! Stop! Stop!” She shouts, rushing forward. The two boys make their way to their feet, and Felix, having sustained several hits himself, shoves Drew back before she can get there. The crowd scrambles to part to avoid him. He slams against the wall, leaving a nice big dent in the drywall. Felix looks around the circle, and everything is still for a moment. He nods once before his gaze lands on her once more. He's not even gigantic, but just by looking at her it makes her feel no bigger that a gnat. He’s bleeding from his knuckles and a lot from his face, but he’s the only one standing so she supposes that’s a win? He steps forward, not offering a hand to her this time. Instead he pulls her tightly into him and promptly leads her out of the house. Everyone is staring. She quickly grabs her things as they leave.

She glances up at him once they get outside. It’s much quieter out here. Wait. He’s not normally taller than her, They’re roughly the same height, but now he’s at least a head taller than her.

“You’re taller.” He scowls at that, not responding otherwise. “Like… like holding a rubber band stretched open all day?” She recalls one conversation they had, where he compared it to that. He said if he were to try to maintain a height taller than his ‘normal’ height, it would be like trying to keep a rubber band stretched at the same distance all day long. She could imagine him trying to appear more intimidating in there by making himself larger. It also probably would make him stronger she guesses? Charlie doesn’t know how that works. Felix shakes his head slightly.

“Like trying to shove myself in a little box.” He whispers to her. Oh. He’s fighting it off. He’s trying to stay a normal height, but he can’t hold it back completely. That also makes sense. It seems to be triggered by intense emotions sometimes? Charlie also doesn’t know how that works. She knows very little about how his abilities work, she just knows that they exist.

“Oh,” is all she can think to say. “Um. Felix, I wanted to say. Um-”

“Keys.” Felix cuts off her thanks or apology or both, she honestly hadn’t decided yet. She realizes they’ve made it to her truck.

“But, wait. How did you get here if… How will you get your car-”

“Just give me your keys, Charlie.” He holds out his hand to her.

“Right. Sorry. Okay.” She digs through her bag, and after drunkenly fumbling through her belongings, she fishes out her keys and hands them over. He helps her into the passenger side of the truck. “Don’t um, don’t grow and break my truck, please.” It’s not really funny, but she laughs anyway. He just gives her some irritated side eye. They start down the road in silence. It's uncomfortably quiet, so she tries to fill the silence with some chatter. “So, uh I just wanted to tell you I-” He cuts her off again, this time reaching forward and turning up the radio. Message received, shut up Charlie. She sighs, and quietly leans against the window. She doesn’t try talking to him again, instead she focuses on a more important task, not throwing up.

They get back to his house, a decent looking barndominium- that is to say, basically a remodeled barn. It's in a secluded area, and it's got high ceilings, what more could a size shifter need. Felix steps out of the truck, immediately significantly taller than he should be. He fumbles with opening the door for her, his hands are an awkward size for the handle. He finally gets it open, and catches her as she half stumbles, half straight up falls, out of the truck.

“I’m gonna throw up.” She mumbles.

“For real?” He asks.

“For serious.” She nods. He sighs and forces himself to be a few inches shorter. He’s shaking with the exertion of keeping himself human sized, but he helps her inside, and leads her to the bathroom. “Oh jeez. I don’t want to puke in front of you. This is so embarrassing.” She’s sprawled on the floor, hovering over the toilet. He silently ties her hair back before just leaving the room as she revisits all the drinks and bad decisions that she made that night.

He leaves her be, going outside to finally stretch out. He grows to full height, sighing in relief. It gets easier to get this big every time he does it. It feels like he's unlocked something, and there's no going back now. He figures he has a few minutes alone while she’s in there throwing up. He can just sit like this for a moment and get it out of his system. He focuses on steadying his breathing. He should really clean up after Charlie is done in the bathroom. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror when he was in there and he is a bloody mess. All too soon, Charlie’s small voice reaches his ears.

“Felix.”

“Go back inside.” He huffs, not wanting her to see him gigantic and bloody and stressed.

“Yeah. I get it, you hate me, and you don’t want to talk to me, but-”

“Charlie. Just go back inside.” Not feeling up to unpacking that right now, he brings his hand down, gently ushering her back inside and blocking the door with his fingers.

“Can you just listen to me?!” She shouts, kicking at his fingertips, “I just need like, a first aid kit. Or maybe, I dunno, some bandages?” This gets his attention. He pulls his hand back, grimacing as she stumbles forwards.

“You’re hurt?”

“No, I just wanted to play Doctor!” She throws her arms up exasperated. He just looks down at her, brow furrowed. He looks annoyed or maybe concerned. He’s probably both, she’s both too drunk to discern the difference and too drunk care. “Not that you really care either way," she huffs. "It isn’t a huge deal I just, I fell back at the party, you were there but you might have been a little… distracted, and … yeah.” She gestures to her arms, having carefully rolled up the sleeves once more.

“Let me-” He whispers, already seeing the red staining her arms. He pauses for a moment like he’s trying to focus, but then he huffs, looking frustrated. She supposes he can’t shift back to normal just yet, another thing she doesn’t quite understand how it works. He moves over from his seated position to laying on his stomach. It’s kind of dizzying watching him move when he's that big. Just simple movements send vibrations through the earth around her. She swallows thickly, and can’t stop from taking a step back away from him as he settles before her. “Just let me see," he says gently. He props himself up on one arm, and reaches his other hand towards her slowly. She hesitates, but eventually she reaches out one of her arms and his gigantic fingertip comes to meet her.

Delicately, he pinches her wrist between his finger and thumb and pulls her arm out so he can get a better look. He leans forward, taking the scene in with wide eyes. He’s close enough for his breathing to ruffle her hair. Her heart pounds in her chest as he silently scans over her. His eyes rake over the cuts on her forearm, flicking over to see the same situation decorating her other arm. He only holds her there for a moment, but he is completely focused on her. She’s never felt more seen than right now. His eyes find their way to her face, she looks from his massive fingers holding her hand to finally bringing herself to meet his all-encompassing gaze. She thinks this is the first time he’s actually looked at her since he picked her up from the party. Or since their fight. It almost feels like it’s the first time anyone has ever really looked at her. Maybe it’s just because she’s drunk, hurt and relatively tiny. Like a bird with a broken wing, a mouse stuck in a glue trap. But, the way he looks at her, she doesn’t feel like a wounded animal he’s taking pity on. She feels like his whole world, at least for that one fleeting moment. He seems so captivated with her. She’s so insignificantly small, she could fit into the palm of his hand. And yet, he looks her over with such care and intense attention to detail it makes her feel like he can see each of her individual eyelashes.

“I'm sorry. you wouldn't have gotten hurt if I would have just-" he clenches his jaw, his expression turning dark and unreadable. Her pulse picks up, this is what he looked like before he decided to make it his mission to make her fear for her life. She pulls her arm back, it's still clamped solidly between his thumb and forefinger. That seems to get his attention. "Okay. Yeah.” He lets her go, withdrawing his hand. Part of her misses his warmth immediately, but another part of her is just relieved. He pushes his palms into the ground and returns to sitting, towering above her. “Just give me ten minutes and I’ll come in and help. Okay?”

“Alright,” she answers breathlessly before turning and going back inside. She sits on the floor in the bathroom, just trying not to bleed on anything important. She feels both better and worse since throwing up, mostly better though she thinks. The room still spins lazily around her as she waits. She is very aware of how cold and wet her clothes are. With sore arms she peels her shirt off, leaving her still wet overalls on, now with just a lace bralette underneath. At least her shirt isn’t sticking to her anymore. She’s still drunk and cold though. One step at a time she supposes.

Eventually, Felix comes back in, his normal height once more. He lays eyes on her for a beat before quickly averting his eyes with a quiet, "Oh Jeez." He digs through the bathroom drawers, setting out first aid supplies on the counter. “You, um. Why did you feel the need to take your shirt off?” He doesn’t look at her, but she can see in the mirror, he's blushing.

“Everything is wet and sticky, and cold. I spilled a lot of drinks on myself when I fell.” She says very matter-of-factly.

“Alright. Um. Okay.”

“I think I broke their lamp too. What kind of person has a house party but doesn’t invest in red solo cups. All the cups were glass. I broke so much glass. Why didn’t they think about that as a possibility. And besides, who is going to be stuck doing all those dishes? Cups aren't even expensive.” She shakes her head, looking up at Felix, his hands are braced on the counter, he’s focusing on the medical supplies, taking stock of what he has and definitely avoiding looking at her. “You can look at me, dude. I would probably wear this in public in like… the summertime. Maybe I’d put like a flannel on top of it. Different shoes. You don’t need to be so… scandalized.” She shrugs.

“Okay.” He nervously taps the counter a few times, she’s pretty sure he only spoke up so she would stop rambling. He takes a deep breath before continuing, “I just, you are very drunk and now you're removing... layers. I just don't want to make you... uncomfortable" he clears his throat. "Okay. Okay. Come here, let’s make sure you don’t still have glass in your arms.”

He bandages her up, taking care to rinse and disinfect the wounds. Her arms took the brunt of the damage, but she has some scrapes on her knees as well. She rambles as he works, and when he doesn’t respond she rambles some more, her words slurring into one another. As he bandages her first arm, she mostly just does a lot of apologizing. ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘This is embarrassing, I’m sorry.’ Just looping. Felix responds once or twice with something resembling ‘it’s fine’ or ‘you’re okay.’ But once it’s clear that she’s still going, he just lets her talk. It’s when he switches to work on the second arm that she takes a big breath and starts really getting into it.

“I guess I kind of ruined your night, huh? You probably had better things to do with your Friday. I’m sorry. I know you wanted me to just leave you alone. I'm... I'm still mad at you by the way. So, I promise, I will leave as soon as I'm sober, and we can go back to pretending that we’ve never met. I know that you don’t want to be my friend anymore and stuff. So, that’s why I went to the party in the first place. I thought that I could meet someone cool and make new friends and stuff. That obviously didn’t happen.  Lesson learned though, and I probably won’t be making that mistake again. I know it sounds super lame, but you were my only friend. I don’t mean to say that to be like ‘oh feel bad for me and be my friend again.’ I don’t mean it like that, it’s just… how it is. I just, I don’t know. I guess I just wish I knew what I did to make you not like me anymore. I just- Gah, I’m such a loser.” She is just noticing the tears streaming down her face. She uses her free hand to attempt to wipe them away. “This is so embarrassing. I’m sorry. Forget I said any of that. I'm mad at you." He lets go of her other arm. She finds her way to the floor, leaning against the cabinets and she buries her face in her hands.

“Charlie. I don’t hate you.” He sits on the floor beside her. “I never hated you. I have just been a really, really bad friend to you. I'm sorry."

“Yeah.” She sniffles. Dropping her hands into her lap. “Why did you want to do that?”

“It’s dumb.” He sighs, “I just. I'm not used to getting that big. My classmates always said I had a useless power and... Anyway I have to go back to the academy for the summer and I just. It's kind of really complicated, but I took some shit out on you and... You don't deserve that. I'm sorry. I understand if you want to pretend like you never met me."

Charlie looks at him for a long while before she leans into him, wrapping her freshly bandaged arms around him and burying her face in his shoulder.

“I missed you.” She mumbles into him.

He sets her up to sleep on the couch, but first he gives her some clean, dry clothes to wear. He sets a glass of water and some aspirin on the coffee table in front of her for the inevitable hangover she will have in the morning.

“I missed you too.” He says resting his cheek against her head.

[oflgtfol]

in my monthly “mourning the part of me that died last year” era

[wildstar25]

WOL and Y’shtola mini-scenario immediate post reunion in shadowbringers under the cut. 

[Context: between markers during quest “a day in the neighbour hood”. While Y’shtola has a good feeling as to why she couldnt recognize Arsay, its clear Arsay is completely unaware of what is happening to her. Fully misinterpreting the events as familiar feelings of abandonment take over, Arsay snaps at Y’shtola at the first opportunity and hastily exists the cave in a huff.]

Y’shtola: To think I’d find the “Warrior of Darkness” sulking, of all things, when there’s a whole new village full of other people's problems you can stick your nose into. Is this how you have changed? I can’t say its very becoming of you.

Arsay: ... 

Y’shtola: ... <sigh>  

Y’shtola: Did that rude welcome of mine offend you so? Surely by now you are no stranger to having a mass of weapons pointed towards you. 

Arsay: ... 

Y’shtola: You have to understand, it’s your aether. It...  after three long years on the first I’ve learned to equate aether such as yours to that of an imminent threat. These people have already lost so much, I can’t afford to take chances with their safety.

Y’shtola: Had I arrived to the scene a moment earlier, heard your voice first, perhaps then- 

Arsay: I’m not mad at you.

Arsay: I... I’m upset with myself. To think myself so important to you that you could recognize me at a glance. That you would not forget me after being apart for a time. I believed because I care so much for you... perhaps you would do the same in turn. A childish folly I thought I’d never repeat. 

Arsay: You’re my best friend Y- Matoya. Your words sting like adder bites and you can read through tomes faster than I can take down a primal. When we part on separate adventures, there are moments where I want nothing more than to see you again. I know you can’t see me the way I see you, it’s unfair of me to expect that of you; yet, to know I am nothing more than an indistinguishable pool of aether in your eyes... Pray, tell me. Do I mean so little in your life as to not be remembered? Did you not think of me at all, even a bit? 

Y’shtola: <scoffs> Don’t be so daft, of course you’ve crossed my mind. When I first arrived to this reflection I thought to myself how worried you must be. That you were probably putting all other duties on hold to instead watch my bedside, as you before did in Rhalgr's Reach. 

Y’shtola: Time moved on here. I got embroiled in the mysteries of the First. I couldn’t very well squander this opportunity in front of me by spending all my energy thinking about if or when I’d ever get to see you again. You know better than most I’m not one to dwell on such things... Perhaps the picture I had of you in my mind faded somewhat along the way but it was not due to lack of caring. It’s the opposite, really. Were I more indifferent, recalling our moments together might have caused me far less grief.

Y’shtola: Suffice is to say, you are important to me too, Arsay. Not only as a fellow scion, but as a dear friend. I couldn’t forget you. Not in any way that matters. You need not jump to such nonsensical insecurities.  

Arsay: ... 

Y’shtola: Now, does that clear things up; or will you force my hand into professing even more superfluous information regarding how I feel.  

Arsay: No, that’s... that was enough. Forgive this outburst of mine, I don’t know what came over m-

Y’shtola: Think nothing of it. I only hope you return to your old self.  

Arsay: Thank you.